Page:Illustrations of China and Its People vol. III.pdf/29



KIN-SHAN, or Golden Island, has attractions of its own no less remarkable than those of the sister islet below Chin-kiang. It is, however, an island no longer, for the alluvial deposits of the Yangtsze's floods have joined it so completely to the right bank of the river, that I had no difficulty in finding room on dry-land for taking the photograph here numbered 17. The pagoda-crowned rock presents the boldest and most striking object in the neighbourhood, and it is almost surplusage to say that it has on that account been appropriated as a suitable site for Buddhist buildings. During the rebel occupation, which extended from 1853 to 1857, these edifices were destroyed by the so-called Christian followers of the Tien-Wang, who left wreck and ruin behind them on every spot where they had carried on their operations. It is strange that they should have allowed this pagoda to remain upright, yet they did so, but not until they had stripped it of its costly ornaments, so as to leave it standing like a battered and broken obelisk, a monument which will testify to future generations that it is desolation and destruction, in vulgar parlance, which have been described as " heavenly progress " in the language of the Taipings. The temples are now in better repair than they have been for years.

Chin-kiang-fu stands at the junction of the grand canal with the Yangtsze, a site of great importance. For this reason the place was one of those most desperately defended during the hostilities of 1842, and its fall materiallyhastened the negotiations for peace which ended in the conclusion of the treaty of Nanking. But as to the three Treaty-ports on the Yangtsze, it was not until 1861 that they were formally opened to foreign trade, the delay arising from the disturbed condition of the country so long as the Taiping rebellion remained unsubdued, The foreign settlement stands on the bank of the river, close to the Grand Canal, while on the western extremity is the Yin-shan, the true Silver Hill, whose name is sometimes erroneously applied to the island in midstream. There is the usual Bund in front of. the foreign houses, facing the river. Some idea of the position of the settlement in relation to Golden Island will be gathered from the distant view of part of the river in which the foreign houses are to be seen. The trade of this port suffered during the rebellion; it speedily, however, recovered, and was greatly aided by a system of transit passes, which was introduced for the first time in 1864, and which has operated favourably in the development of foreign trade. The value of the trade of the port was ,£1,840,769 in 1868, and ,£3,212,769 in 1871. During the past year the trade again appears to have decreased, but this is a depression which has been felt, more or less, all over China.